Mike the Headless Chicken

Mike, in English also Mike the Headless Chicken or Miracle Mike (* April 1945, † March 1947 ), was the name of a rooster, the 18 months after the head it was almost entirely cut off, lived on. After the story became public, came to doubt her. However, the University of Utah confirmed the authenticity of this case.

Decapitation

On Monday, September 10, 1945, the farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado beheaded the five and a half months old rooster because he expected his mother to dinner on the weekend. However, because the ax used was too small, he missed the carotid artery. An ear and the majority of the brain stem were also left intact, which is why Mike did not die. The first night after the beheading spent the cock with the neck under the wing. Olsen then decided to spare Mike. In order to gain clarity on the state of the animal, he brought the hammer to 400 km distant University of Utah in Salt Lake City. The students and professors examined the animal and could explain why Mike was still alive. Since the brain stem, which controls vital functions of the organism, was still working, the cock was still able to run insecure and adhere to a pole. He also tried to preen and crow, although no sound came out of it. Olsen fed him with a mixture of milk and water, which he dripped by pipette directly into the esophagus. When the cock was suffocating in its own slime, the neck of the Olsens was purified using a small syringe. In the one and a half years in which he lived without a head, he took over a kilo. Last weighed the cock nearly four kilograms.

Fame

After the news got around, Mike was presented among other oddities, such as a two-headed calf as a circus attraction. He was photographed for dozens of magazines and newspapers. Mike could be seen for 25 cents. At peak times, the Olsens earned monthly U.S. $ 4,500 (now converted $ 50,000 ) with the animal. Its value was estimated at $ 10,000. The surprising success enticed a number of farmers to behead their taps to create the same attraction. However, none of the animals survived for more than a day or two.

Death

In March 1947, Mike suddenly began to choke in the middle of the night in a motel in Phoenix. The Olsens had forgotten on the way home after a tour to remove the mucus from Mike's neck, so that the rooster choked.

The cock was examined after his death, and it was found that the ax had missed the jugular vein and a clot had saved him from bleeding to death.